Air Ambulance Pilots Support Pilot Killed in Crash Wednesday

A group of ten pilots with Hawaii Air Ambulance say it is sure that the pilot in last Wednesday's deadly crash on Maui did everything he could to prevent it.

The pilots signed a letter addressed to the media.

"In our hearts and our minds there's absolutely no doubt that Peter did everything he possibly could to prevent that accident from happening, and also to prevent the people form the ground from being injured," said Randall Cummings, a pilot with Hawaii Air Ambulance.

All three people on board -- pilot Peter Miller, nurse Brien Eisaman, and Marlena Yomes -- were killed in the crash.

No one on the ground was hurt.

"Immediately you're trying to think what caused this, what could it have been," said Boogie Molina, a flight paramedic with Hawaii Air Ambulance. "There's no doubt in my mind that whatever had happened, Peter did the best he could to try, first try to mitigate whatever had caused it, and after that, he tried to do his best to bring them back down safely."

The cessna crashed in the BMW dealership, about a mile short of Kahului Airport, and just off the busy Hana Highway.

"That was his primary mission was to take care of us, help us take care of our patients, and to bring us home safe," said Molina.

Fellow pilots say Miller had "excellent pilot skills" and say he flying "came naturally" for him. Miller was involved in another crash last July, when his plane suffered engine failure.

"He pulled it off beautifully," said Cummings. "Nobody got hurt, everybody walked away. That's why there's no doubt in our mind that it wasn't his fault, what had happened."

"We wanted to share that with the family of Marlena and Brien as well. They should know that, that he did everything possible to prevent that tragedy from happening. We're sure or that in our hearts and our minds."

Preliminary reports from the NTSB indicate that the plane in last week's crash had engine trouble.

It could take up to a year to a final report to determine what probably went wrong.